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Woody Harrelson as Martin Hart and Matthew McConaughey as Rustin Cohle in the first season of True Detective (Picture: Home Box Office Inc)

True Detective was the surprise hit of this year, coming from nowhere to earn ecstatic plaudits for stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and for newcomer writer Nic Pizzolatto. After such a successful first season, the Difficult Second Album syndrome kicks in – how is Pizzolatto going to match season one?

We’ve known for a while that season two will tell a completely new story with new characters, and rumours about casting and plot details have been flying around feverishly even before season one came to an end.

So what do we know for sure?

Casting

Everyone from Brad Pitt to Jessica Chastain have been linked to True Detective, with Christian Bale reportedly turning down an offer.

The latest (and more substantial) rumours are that Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch and Elisabeth Moss are up for the detective roles, with Vince Vaughn recently being linked with a villain role. An unlikely villain, perhaps, but then again Matthew McConaughey wasn’t exactly a likely Rust Cohle.

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Characters

Pizzolatto originally stated that there would be two detectives – this time a man and a woman – but that has since ballooned to three detectives, all ‘from different cities and branches of government’ and all working the same case.

These detectives, staying true to the original series, are apparently beset by their own issues, which include alcohol, gambling and drug addictions. The villain of the piece is seemingly set to be the fourth major character.

Plot

Pizzolatto originally claimed that the series would be about ‘the secret occult history of the United States transportation system’. More recently, we’ve heard that the series will focus on the murder of a corrupt city manager, whose death might be linked to plans to build a railway between North and South California.

To add that extra level of True Detective weirdness, the dead man has satanic symbols carved into his chest and had ‘a penchant for rough sex’.

Setting

Goodbye Louisiana, hello California. It looks like the series will have a whole lot more sunshine than season one, but won’t be any less hot and sticky.

Writer and director

(Picture: Getty)

While Nic Pizzolatto remains the sole writer on the show, season two will have multiple directors. Whether season one director Cary Fukunaga will return for any episodes remains to be seen.

Women

Season one received criticism for its lack of female characters, and many assumed that Pizzolatto’s early promise of ‘hard women’ in season two was an attempt to balance out the discrepancies in season one.

However, since then the number of lead female characters had already dropped from 50 per cent to 25 per cent, so it remains to be seen whether season two will be much of an improvement on season one on that front. That said, if the show’s single female lead is half as good as Fargo’s Molly, then it won’t be a problem.